Our Featured Celebration

Forgive us for blowing our own horn a bit, but we’re going to unilaterally pre-empt whatever UN Agency dedicates days and weeks to weird causes, and claim December 1st for our own. Ladies and Gents: we are proud to proclaim today International New Consilium Website Launch Day.

Pay a visit to the new site, put faces to names, admire the cool design by our friends at Beat Studios, enjoy the splash-page Consilium Anthem by radical contemporary composer John Cage Bennett, and play Spot the Imaginary Building.

NEW FACES

We’d like you to meet a recent arrival in our circle of friends and associates – Jimmy Jacquard, who will be working with Victor Tootoo and Terry Rudden on a number of upcoming training projects, including a workshop with the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board in January.

Jimmy grew up just outside of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia in a small coastal French community where most of the population make their living from the sea. He received a Bachelor of Science with a major in biology from Dalhousie University, then returned home to Yarmouth and worked in the fishing industry on his father’s boat, fishing for lobster and swordfish. He then completed a Bachelor of Education at Queens University, then moved to the Arctic for a two-year adventure – an adventure now in its thirteenth year. Over the course of those years Jimmy served as President of the Nunavut Teachers' Association, vice-president of the Canadian Teachers' Federation, and chair of the National Advisory committee on Aboriginal Education.

His skills and experience in the areas of training, development, facilitation and strategic planning are matched by his experience as an entrepreneur in the private sector. A long-standing advocate for the environment, Jimmy has spoken to many groups about the effects of climate change on the Earth and all its inhabitants.

Jimmy has two children, Ayla (12) and Sam (8), and resides in Iqaluit. He is currently completing an Executive MBA program, and is looking forward to working with the Aarluk team on the goal we all share - making Nunavut a better place for all Nunavummiut.

NEW BEGINNINGS

In January, Aarluk will be working with Nunavut Arctic College and the Municipal Training Organization to pilot a new distance delivery program for computer training. Lisa Dowling will deliver the course, with Chuck Gilhuly and Leslie Sutherland providing technical and backup support. The program will train staff in all 24 Hamlet offices over a six-week period. The training will be based on pre-assessments leading to training customized to each individual’s personal strengths and weaknesses, then post-assessments to gauge the results and finally, a certification exam. Training and Certification will be based on the global standard for the “Internet and Computing Core Certification Program” or IC3. This model will open up many opportunities for people in communities to receive world class training and certification at a hugely reduced cost. We’ll keep you updated!

The Inuit Broadcasting Corporation provided a generation of Inuit with three decades of iconic images and ground breaking programming. They led Canada in the creation of Aboriginal broadcast services, changed the Broadcast Act, and helped to create the world’s first Aboriginal television networks. Over the next few months, Patti Black and Terry Rudden will have the honour of working with IBC on the creation of the Nunavut Media Arts Centre, a state of the art performance and production facility to showcase the best of Nunavut and provide a home for live production on a scale never possible before. Stay (as they say) tuned.

Following Jennifer David's work with the Canadian Museum of Civilization, Scott Black and Chuck Gilhuly will be working with a team from the museum to design curriculum and on-line resources for students that will accompany a series of Inuit prints from Cape Dorset currently held by the Museum.

The Health Council of Canada has hired Stonecircle Consulting to explore promising practices in Aboriginal maternal and child health. Patti Black, Jennifer David, Fern Assinewe, Wanda Brascoupe-Peters and Kory Goulais will be coordinating dialogue sessions in seven regions across Canada in January and February 2011. The sessions will focus on what is working to address challenges, and involve stakeholders at all levels of First Nation, Métis, Inuit and urban Aboriginal maternal and child health. If you have any contacts in this area and want them to be invited, please contact Patti or Jennifer.

Jennifer David recently facilitated a three-day meeting of the Assembly of First Nation ICT (Information Communication Technology) working group, as the able Kory Goulais took notes. The meeting continued the process of developing a First Nation ICT strategy.

ONGOING PROJECTS

This week Stonecircle is presenting its first draft of the implementation plan for one of Akwesasne's land claims. Developed by Fred Weihs, Alex Ker and Jennifer David, the draft will be reviewed by staff, then by the Chiefs Committee on Claims then a community advisory committee before being presented to the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne later this month.

Terry Rudden will be delivering a workshop on “The Art and Science of the Elevator Speech” to clients of the Catholic Immigration Centre, through their highly successful Community Integration Network. Never having actually spoken to an elevator before, Terry is looking forward to a learning experience.

Stonecircle continues to support Sagamok Anishnawbek in managing relationships with mining companies undertaking exploration and development activity in Sagamok traditional territory. In early November, meetings were held with Vale Inco at their Totten Mine Project site to continue discussions towards an Impacts and Benefits Agreement between Sagamok and the company. The Totten Mine Project is currently in a construction phase and is expected to go into production in late 2011. Participating in the meetings and a site visit offered by the company were members of the Sagamok Mining Working Group (including Alex Ker from Stonecircle – the one with the hat that doesn’t quite fit), members of Chief and Council and current participants in Sagamok’s Meshkoogaabwidjik social assistance reform program which means “Standing Tall Together”.

Stonecircle's community evaluators in Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan have been busy travelling to Aboriginal Head Start On Reserve sites across their respective regions as part of our Special Study on language and culture within the Head Start program. One of our researchers, Anika Altiman, has experienced what many Nunavut consultants frequently encounter: she was stranded in Timmins due to a blizzard and unable to fly to a remote James Bay community. So, onto plan B... the regional visits will continue until early January! Jennifer David is managing, with assistance from Greg Smith, Kory Goulais and Christian Cloutier.

Greg Smith and Alex Ker are completing their draft report on the evaluation of the Nunavut Community Wellness Project (NCWP). The project has provided support to six pilot communities (Arviat, Clyde River, Coral Harbour, Igloolik, Kugaaruk and Kugluktuk) to develop community wellness plans.

Kory Goulais recently returned from a road trip to six First Nations and a tribal council office when he conducted interviews in all of the communities that belong to the North Shore Tribal Council. He was gathering information as part of Stonecircle's development of an Anishnaabe (Ojibway) language strategy for the tribal council. Jennifer David, Kory and Terry Rudden continue to conduct research and will be organizing focus groups for early in the New Year.

HAPPY ENDINGS

Terrys Forth and Rudden have completed a series of strategic communications recommendation for the NCC Investment Group, the leading real estate development and property management company in Nunavut. Owned by Inuit and managed in Iqaluit, the company is responsible for the construction of some of Nunavut’s best known and most distinctive building, including the Legislative Assembly.

Senior Administrative Officers and Assistant SAO’s from 17 Nunavut municipalities participated in the SAO Professional Development Course in Iqaluit in November. Organized and sponsored by the Nunavut Municipal Training Organization, Aarluk’s facilitator Chuck Gilhuly, worked with the senior municipal staff on issues such as legislation, program development, human resources and leadership. The administrators were all happy to get the opportunity to talk to their peers to share their own experiences and get support and information from each other. The group then headed over to the Navigator Inn for an excellent Chinese buffet! Please note that the picture is of the buffet, not the course.

Chuck Gilhuly also facilitated a workshop on the future of the internet and the Canadian Internet Governance Forum. Hosted by Heather Creech of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and Mark Buell from the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) – [CIRA manages the .ca domain name] stakeholders from Iqaluit and across Nunavut had their opportunity to provide input on the potential for the internet to provide economic opportunities. Participants were well engaged and very knowledgeable on the subject. Iqaluit was one of only six consultations across Canada and this consultation will ensure that Nunavut’s concerns and input will be given the same level of consideration as major cities such as Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.

BIRTHDAYS

December Birthday honours go out to Galin Kora on December 13th, and David Boult on December 17th, who will be celebrating his birthday in Rankin Inlet. So if you happen to be in Rankin Inlet on December 17th, bring him out to the Wild Wolf Café or the Sugar Rush!

GOSSIP

Shortly after our last publication, our front desk and reception area were occupied by cadre of stuffed animals annoyed at the unfair prominence afforded in our newsletter to what they described as “the pampered bourgeois aristocrats featured in the pages of your last edition”. From left to right: Stokely, Rocco, Ponzi, Crippen, Klaatu, Louise, Captain McGlue, Morgana, and Balbulican. This photo is especially dedicated to our very dear friend and constant reader Peter Crass, who has been complaining for months that our newsletter needs more “cute, fuzzy animals in it, preferably pink.”

Greg Smith recently attended a one-day Learning Event for evaluation professionals from the National Capital region of the Canadian Evaluation Society (CES). This is one of a number of workshops, training courses, and other professional development events sponsored by CES each year. CES also holds an annual general meeting in a different city each year, and has recently launched a certification process for evaluators. Program evaluation in Canada is a growing field, responding to the 2009 Treasury Board Policy on Evaluation which includes a requirement for review of all federal programs every five years. Consilium, Stonecircle and Aarluk have conducted numerous evaluations of federal, territorial and other programs and projects over the past fifteen years, and members of this practice area (Greg Smith, Galin Kora, Christian Cloutier and Alex Ker) continue to regularly monitor developments and improve their professional skills.

Like us, you’ve probably looked outside at some point in the last few weeks and thought to yourself, “What a miserable, freezing, rainy, windy, gray November Day. Hey, I think I’ll go climb a mountain.”  Having successfully suppressed most of his sanity, researcher Geoff “Big Rig” Rigby did just that, climbing up to the top of Mt. Tremblant on the coldest day of the month. A native of Iqaluit, Geoff found the -20 wind chill and snow at the top “homey.” Regrettably, he refrained from paying a quarter for a closer look at the landscape: you would otherwise have been treated to the amusing spectacle of our valued researcher, frozen atop Mt. Tremblant to a set of giant binoculars until the April edition of this newsletter.

RFP FOR YOU!!!

Here at the CCG we spend a fair amount of time responding to RFPs (Request for Proposals) and we’d like to return the favour! There is a twist however – the RFP we’re talking about is a Request for Pictures! In anticipation of the Holiday Edition of Our Times, we would like you to send us some pictures of previous Holidays of you and your loved ones with a short description of year and place, and we will publish it in next month’s Holiday Edition of Our Times! Deadline is Wednesday, December 15th at 5:00 p.m. ET.

CHECK BACK EVERY MONTH FOR MORE CONSILIUM, STONECIRCLE AND AARLUK NEWS, TOOLS, AND GOSSIP.

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